The present invention relates to an articulation, used in the field of automobile accessories, more precisely for external side view mirrors, which was developed for many applications in order to fulfill the industry's different needs, and to simplify the production process, improve performance, utilization and to lower production costs.
External side view mirrors are already known comprising an actual mirror plate; an articulation, which is a movable part seated on a rear face of the mirror plate; a housing accommodating the mirror plate and having a rear internal wall on which a stationary section of the articulation is seated and a base on which the housing is mounted and which is attached to the vehicle body.
One type of side view mirror can be manually adjusted by turning or positioning the mirror plate directly by hand by the vehicle's driver (manual adjustment) to place it in the desired position.
The other possibility is to produce a mirror in which the adjusting is accomplished by remote control by cables. This type of mirror arrangement has at least three cables and an operating lever inside the vehicle. One of the cable ends is attached to an appropriate moveable section of the articulation and another of the ends is attached to the operating lever mounted on the inside face of the vehicle's door so that when this operating lever is properly moved, its motion is then transmitted by the cables to the moveable part of the articulation which moves in relation to a fixed section of the articulation, thus moving the mirror plate attached to the aforesaid moveable part of the articulation around x- and y-axes.
These two articulation structures are required to satisfy somewhat different needs. The manual adjustment solution requires an articulation that is more rigid, that is, it requires a greater torque to move it. The remote control solution requires that the articulation be more loose, that is, it requires less torque to be moved.
This complicates the manufacturing process, since specific tools are needed for either one or the other solution, which is undesirable, either from a technical or economical point of view.
The other disadvantages of these external side view mirrors of the above-described type include the fact that, when in use, it is not unusual that the mirror plate itself vibrates, which, besides impairing the user's view, also helps to change the set position of the mirror which results in further difficulties for the user. Such vibrations are generally due, among others, to the geometry of the mirror, the level of vibrations generated by the operation of the vehicle, the unevenness of the roads and other factors.
Usually, in order to solve this problem, studies are conducted to detect the intensity and the direction of the vibration and the mirrors are equipped with anti-vibration devices, which in one production process have the shape of pins that project from the inside face of the forward housing wall, which are appropriately deployed so that their free tips support the mirror plate.
Nevertheless, this type of solution complicates the manufacturing process which is undesirable.